


Gasp For Air

by madamecrimson



Series: Anything Like That [6]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment, Watcher Entertainment (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamecrimson/pseuds/madamecrimson
Summary: Spoilers for Watcher Weekly #007Shane balanced his elbow on the back of the couch, rubbing his hands across his face as he described in detail what had happened. Sara listened openly, her fingers gently resting on Shane's arm as he recounted everything. She managed to conceal her enthusiasm pretty well, but she wasn't at all surprised. She had seen this coming for awhile."So what are you gonna do now?" she asked softly.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej, Shane Madej/Sara Rubin
Series: Anything Like That [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622158
Comments: 5
Kudos: 70





	Gasp For Air

"I have absolutely no idea," Shane replied. 

His phone buzzed then, and both of them turned toward the noise. Shane's gaze fixed on the phone but he made no move to reach out and pick it up, even when it buzzed again. Sara sighed, plucking the phone off the table and holding it out toward Shane. She raised an eyebrow expectantly until Shane relented. It was a response from Ryan to Shane's earlier text, where he mentioned he had "just remembered" that Steven Lim wouldn't be at their office the following day to film Watcher Weekly and said they should get weird. 

From Ryan: _Hey since Big Apple Steven is in the Big Apple tomorrow, we should dress insane!_

From Ryan: _Nasty Boy style!_

Shane stared at the messages for a long time, to the point where Sara knew he had already read them. 

"What did he say?" she inquired, already knowing who the messages were from. 

Shane shrugged and shook his head, holding out the phone for Sara to see. Sara quirked an eyebrow at Shane when she had finished reading.

"So instead of talking about this like mature and rational adults, you're just gonna keep ignoring it?" Sara asked, handing the phone back to Shane. 

"That is how it would appear, yes," Shane replied, sending an affirmative message back to Ryan. 

Sara tilted her head to the side. "You know, _you_ could be the one to say something first." 

Shane shrugged again, moving to stand. "Or, I couldn't," he replied. The pain was apparent in his face. 

Shane normal maintained a fairly neutral expression at work, unless he was laughing or trying to be comedic. Now that he was home with Sara, all of that had fallen away. Sara stood, taking Shane's hand in hers and lacing their fingers together. There wasn't anything left to say. Shane was terrified that if he said anything to Ryan, and Ryan didn't return his feelings, that their entire company that they had sunk all of their time, energy, and money into would fall apart. That he would lose Ryan. Sara gently led Shane into their bedroom for them to go to sleep, rubbing over his back as he tried not overthink about overthinking. He'd get on Ryan's case for that consistently, normally when he felt Ryan was mistaking shadows and wind for ghosts, but he was loathe to admit that he did the same thing, in his own way. 

When Shane woke up the next morning, he felt like he was on autopilot, so much so that when he arrived at the office he felt like he couldn't even remember driving there. As he walked inside, he honestly hoped for a busy day to take his mind off of things. He overheard someone mention "Worth It" and then he was actively reminded that Steven was in New York that week, and it would just be Ryan and himself filming Watcher Weekly. His heartbeat began to quicken as he went to sit down on the chair that they used for the show. He numbed his expression, but was jolted out of his concentration at the sounds of barking. He turned around to see Ryan and his Mom arriving with Ryan's dogs. It took Ryan only moments to calm them down. Shane wasn't opposed to dogs, but he was generally more of a cat person. He was barely looking at the dogs anyway. His eyes were fixed on Ryan, and it took him only a short while to notice that Ryan was sporting a Christmas light patterned blazer and a cowboy hat. He wondered briefly if he was dreaming before he recalled the text Ryan sent him. Shane reasoned that at least it would be something else for them to focus on. 

Ryan stepped onto the set and sat down on the couch, his dogs excitedly running around him. He wasn't exactly trying to avoid Shane per say, but it would be easier to not have to make eye contact if he appeared distracted by his dogs. Ryan and Shane had silently decided that one of them would sit on the couch and one in the chair; without Steven there as a buffer, they wanted to avoid physical proximity as much as possible. However, sometimes efforts to appear inconspicuous can actually come across as more dubious. Throughout the entire episode, Ryan kept glancing at the camera far more than he normally did when Steven was there. He always aimed to address their audience directly, but often ended up stealing rather obvious glances at Shane. Shane constantly kept adjusting his jacket throughout the episode, desperately reaching out for _any_ sort of buffer.

They soon began filming and as they bantered back and forth about Ryan's crazy outfit and Shane's lack thereof, Ryan could see the pained look in Shane's eyes, concealed beneath a mirthful expression. It reflected his own. He tried not to think about it too hard. 

Shane donned a baseball cap in an effort to match Ryan's style. Ryan immediately noticed how poorly it fit Shane's head. He reached out in a strained manner, afraid to even accidentally brush against Shane's hair as he gripped the brim of the cap between two fingers and took it off. He was aching to touch Shane, now that his hands had explored Shane's body more thoroughly than they ever had before, and still yearned for more. However, he valiantly resisted, tightening his hands into fists and straining his posture. He was determined not to get hard while filming. 

The show went on, telling fans to submit their Watcher Weekly intros. As Shane began talking about it, Ryan awkwardly tapped Shane's shoe. It was something he did every now and then, a gesture that seemed sort of playful, which it was, but it was also a covert way for Ryan to touch Shane when the ache became too overwhelming. 

Ryan then shifted the conversation to discussion about Grocery Run. Shane had picked up the ball that Ryan's dogs were playing with, and moved to throw it. Instead of focusing on the action or even on the dogs, Shane was distractedly staring at Ryan and ended up accidentally hitting him in the chest. He quickly apologized, a nervous tinge to his voice. They continued to talk about Grocery Run, with both Ryan and him giving a brief summary and praising the quality. 

Shane rounded out the discussion by reminding fans to watch the show, and that it had been posted to their channel. However, something caught him off guard, and he would later hope he hadn't been too obvious. 

"So check it out. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it. It's up on the channel, it's incredible, um..." 

When Shane looked over at Ryan, he could see the other man staring at him, eyes dark and lips parted. Shane momentarily felt the air rush from his lungs until he saw someone motioning to him off camera to move the show forward. 

"And that's that," Shane finished quickly. 

"That's that," Ryan repeated. 

They went on to talk about Tourist Trapped and moved onto questions from fans. Before Shane could begin reading them out, one of their staff posed a question, asking if they were an item in a grocery store, what they would be. 

Shane claimed he would be a celery stalk, citing one of the reasons as being that he was "juicy." 

Ryan had replied rather quickly to that comment. "I don't know about that part." He swallowed thickly, surprised by the his voice had dropped an octave. If Shane had noticed, he certainly didn't make it obvious. 

Shane then pulled up a fan question (more of a comment really) that stated that Shane and Ryan shouldn't be sat together because of their tendency to talk over Steven. Ryan immediately changed the subject, rambling on about some light he thought he saw. Shane brought the focus back, wanting to assume that Ryan was just being silly or distracted, knowing deep down that that wasn't the case. 

Another question was asked about who their dream guest would be if they were not constrained by reality or finances. One potential guest that Ryan mentioned was The Rock.

"I can't think of a man, who is more manly and large," Ryan said as Shane gestured toward himself, "than the Rock." 

"Oh I thought you were gonna say 'Shane'," Shane stated, straightening his jacket once again. 

Ryan paused, feeling his chest tighten, as he thought about the implications of that. He forced himself to respond with a short "no" before it looked too weird.

Ryan tried to soothe Shane's ego by stating that he didn't expect him to be The Rock, and then they got into a conversation about how Shane wouldn't want to be that muscular for fear of tearing his skin. Ryan was relieved that Shane was able to move on to another topic so quickly, but he hoped Shane didn't feel slighted. There was no way the The Rock could ever make Ryan feel the way Shane did, and Ryan's heart hammered against his rib cage as he tried to push the thought back. 

They moved onto more fan questions and comments and soon finished out the episode. 

For the rest of the day, Shane and Ryan didn't avoid each other, but instead collaborated on preparing for Vidcon. While they did manage to stay focused and most of their discussions were business oriented, Shane couldn't help but grin when Ryan got particularly enthusiastic and Ryan would beam whenever Shane would deliver a particularly sarcastic comment. At some point during the day, Shane received a text from Sara. 

From Sara: _Hey sweetie, I won't be able to watch the premiere of "Tourist Trapped" with you this week :(_

Watching the premieres of each other's shows together had been a tradition between Shane and Sara since they had started dating while working at Buzzfeed. Shane was about to text Sara back when he received another message. 

From Sara: _Mari and I are having a girls night so you and Ryan can watch the premiere together! ;)_

Shane felt his stomach squirm, a bit unsettled by the winking emoji. Sara was a lot more devious than she looked and people often underestimated that about her. Mari was similarly devious and Shane tried not to think about the two of them conspiring about this. 

From Sara: _You two deserve a date while you watch yourselves on a date! Oh sorry, I mean "Tourist Trapped." XD_

From Shane: _"'Tourist Trapped'" wasn't a date and this won't be either."_

From Sara: _So you agree to the plan then! :) Mari gave me a recipe for a popcorn seasoning mix that Ryan really likes so I'll make it for your little sleepover!_

From Shane: _Sleepover?!_

From Sara: _Don't pretend like all your Unsolved trips weren't sleepovers._

From Shane: _Those were for work!_

From Sara: _And how is watching the premiere episode of a new series launch with one of your co-founders *not* for work?_

From Shane: _..._

From Shane: _Alright fine, you win._

From Sara: _Don't worry, I'll be sure to have the champagne, candles, and rose petal path to the bedroom set up before you guys get here ;)_

From Shane: _SARA!_

From Sara: _I'm kidding I'm kidding! But I can totally imagine your freak out face right now! :)_

Shane sighed heavily. He was about to ask if Ryan would be free, when Ryan talked to him first instead. 

"So apparently Mari and Sara are having a girls night out and we're watching the premiere of "Tourist Trapped" together at your apartment?" Ryan said to Shane, looking up at him. 

Shane quirked an eyebrow. "I...guess so," he replied with a shrug. 

"And I'm spending the night?" Ryan asked, a slight quaver to his voice. 

Shane swallowed thickly, not trusting himself to verbally respond so he just nodded his head. He could feel a blush rising on his neck.

Ryan's phone buzzed again and he looked down at it before he rolling his eyes. 

"And tell your girlfriend to stop corrupting my girlfriend with hipster garage bands!" Ryan told him. 

"Sara's not "corrupting" her, she's expanding her horizons," Shane replied. 

"Does that mean Sara's gonna start watching basketball?" Ryan asked, his face breaking out into a grin. 

Shane looked at him pointedly. "Not a chance," he said. 

Ryan scoffed, feigning offense and Shane smirked in reply. He could work with banter. It had been the cornerstone of their friendship and shows for years. It was familiar ground. Even if Shane did feel like there were butterflies in his stomach about his not date with Ryan.


End file.
